A 40-year-old labourer succumbed at a city hospital early yesterday morning, hours after he was stabbed after he attempted to settle a quarrel over loud music between his wife and her sister and huband at Enmore, East Coast Demerara.
Dead is Albert Raghu called `Soldier’, 40 of Lot 218 Hope West, Enmore, ECD.
Raghu was stabbed twice including to his chest during the incident which took place around 11.30 pm on Sunday.
He was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) where he was treated and admitted. He succumbed to his injuries about 5.30 am yesterday.
Contacted yesterday, Regional Commander Royston Andries-Junor told Stabroek News that two suspects are presently in police custody assisting with investigations.
The suspects are Raghu’s wife’s sister, 29, and her 40-year-old husband.
Reports are that Raghu and his wife occupied the lower flat of the house while the suspects live in the upper flat. The house belongs to Raghu’s wife, Hemwattie Persaud’s father who lives nearby.
Police spokesman Jairam Ramlakhan, in a press release yesterday said that around 11.30 pm on Sunday, the suspects were reportedly imbibing and playing loud music thereby causing a disturbance to Persaud, who was alone in her apartment at the time. Raghu subsequently returned home and Persaud bought the issue to his attention.
“Shortly after, the victim (Raghu) arrived home and his wife (Persaud) bought the situation to his attention and he reportedly armed himself with a cutlass and confronted the suspects who were in the yard; the male suspect was said to be armed with two knives,” the police explained.
The police said an argument ensued during which the female suspect allegedly choked Raghu while her husband allegedly stabbed him.
The male suspect also sustained a wound to his abdomen and has since received medical attention.
Persaud yesterday explained to Stabroek News that she is an epilepsy patient and she would often times experience seizures. At nights, Persaud said she takes medication which would require her to rest.
She explained that she was in bed trying to get some sleep but the loud music which was being played by the suspects stopped her from doing so.
“She (female suspect) had some friend by she drinking and playing music. Well I don’t have a problem with that with the music or whatever but they laughing hard, hard and when them ah laugh so hard by I am a seizure case in my head I does normally got to use tablet. So I does gah get rest and that time it was so annoying because every time me eye shut, I jumping out ah meh sleep because ah the noise them making upstairs,” Persaud said.
Ease
As the situation grew out of control, Persaud said she decided to contact her father and asked him to call suspects and tell them to “ease” the music.
“Meh seh daddy yuh can call them people this (the suspects) and tell them to ease the music or if not with the music so much but leh them stop get on blackguarded because dah is 11 o’clock ah night me want sleep and meh husband got to go to work 5.30 in the morning,” she related.
Persaud’s father called the male suspect and related the message to him. “So because me father call and tell she husband (male suspect) to take off the music, he (male suspect) tell she (female suspect) and she start cuss up…..she seh she nah business and this and dah. She start get on blackguarded in the house,” Persaud said.
Persaud further said that the female suspect began to take actions to annoy her more but she and Raghu tried to ignore her. “…Me and meh husband nah seh nothing. She (female suspect) come in the front room now because she know we live underneath and she start lick down thing in the house hard hard and start one cussing up,” Persaud said.
She added that the suspects then went into the yard during which they had an exchange of words which escalated.
“…Me and she (female suspect) had a teeth and tongue. She come at the front and she cuff my glass window and she seh that how she go bruk the window and start cussing up and suh. Suh meh open the door and meh go out and me and she was arguing and so. She husband (male suspect) now ah rush up to me, so me and he had it out and me husband now come out and seh ‘bai wah does ayo these. Muss get tuh time and place’ and he (male suspect) run upstairs and he bring down a knife. He get two knife in he pocket,” Persaud related.
“Me tell meh husband watch dah bai (male suspect) get two knife, know wah yuh ah do. So after me husband and she husband ah argue now….she husband (male suspect) come from behind and grabble me husband pun he neck and ram the knife inside he. Then she (female suspect) grabble me husband tuh. Suh me ah try now fah hustle up with all two ah them. He (Raghu) can’t mek it because he done get bore. He weak. Blood ah flow like water,” she added.
Persaud said Raghu had armed himself with a cutlass in a bid to defend himself. “…He (Raghu) hold the cutlass fah defend he self and the cutlass fall out he hand and lef pun the ground,” she said.
Persaud said she was hoping that Raghu would recover. However, after spending hours at the hospital, she said the doctor informed her that he had died.
According to Persaud, Raghu worked and maintained her. “He does work and maintain me and he does treat me like a queen tuh. Anything I want he buying for me. If I ask he fah cook fah meh he cooking. Anything he doing. He don’t even want me do nothing sometime when he deh home he ah quarrel let me go and rest nah do nothing,” Persaud related.
The couple have one child.
